Myspace, Screen West Midlands and Vertigo Films Announce Innovative Plans To Release Faintheart, The Re-enactment Themed Film Filmed On Location In Ludlow, Shropshire

5th January 2009

The World's First User Generated Feature Film to be Screened for Free in the UK

MySpace, Vertigo Films, Screen West Midlands, UK Film Council and Film4 announce innovative plans for the release of FAINTHEART in 2009. The film, which was filmed on location in Ludlow in Shropshire, was the closing gala screening at the 2008 Edinburgh International Film Festival, will be released simultaneously and free of charge for one day only, in 150 cinemas and on MySpace on Tuesday 27th January. FAINTHEART will then be available to buy on DVD from Monday 2nd February 2009.

At the core of this ground-breaking plan, MySpace, together with developer Three Eyed Labs has created the UK's first theatrical screening web application, which will allow the FAINTHEART MySpace community to decide in which towns the film is shown.

The 'Heart Map' application enables FAINTHEART fans to enter their postcode on the profile (www.myspace.com/faintheartthemovie) and discover the nearest town that could potentially screen the film. Once a vote is cast, the heart will visibly grow on the map to reflect the increase of hits in that area. Fans will be able to vote for any location in the UK, and the most popular 150 places will be selected for the free screening on 27th January 2009.

On the same day, FAINTHEART will also be streamed free of charge for one day only on its MySpace profile, before being released on DVD on 2nd February 2009.

MySpace and Vertigo Films are adopting this highly innovative approach in order to show appreciation and thanks to the community of fans who have given so much to the creation of FAINTHEART, the world's first user generated feature film.

James Fabricant, Director of Business Development and Media, Europe for MySpace and one of the film's producers, said: "In FAINTHEART we have created an entirely new model of film creation. The MySpace community has been involved with every step of the production and we felt this innovative project wouldn't be complete without their involvement at the final stage."

Rupert Preston, of Vertigo Films said, "The industry is beginning to experiment with the traditional distribution windows, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to do something different and exciting with FAINTHEART. It's a wonderful movie which we have decided to release in the Valentine's Day window and this event should create great word- of mouth across the UK".

Sally Caplan, Head of the UK Film Council's Premiere Fund said: "This whole project has been a great experiment for film in the digital age right from the very beginning, so I am delighted to see this followed through with an exciting and novel distribution plan to reach out to audiences far and wide."

Matt Brightwell, Head of Marketing at Contender Home Entertainment added: "We're really pleased to be working with Vertigo and MySpace on the release of FAINTHEART. Not only does it have a unique heritage through MySpace, it is also a film with genuine broad appeal and the innovative release strategy we're employing will generate great awareness and maximise its enormous potential on DVD."

About the film

FAINTHEART is the result of MyMovieMashUp, the ground-breaking initiative by MySpace, Vertigo Films and Film4. MyMovieMashUp sought to harness the collective creativity of the world's largest online community in making the world's first fully user generated feature film, giving UK MySpace users the opportunity to play an integral part in every stage of the filmmaking process from directing the film, to joining the cast, submitting music for the soundtrack, or being part of the production crew.

Set in the world of battle re-enactments, FAINTHEART charts the epic quest of Viking Warrior Readmund the Just, aka Richard the sales assistant (Eddie Marsan), as he attempts to win back the love of his long suffering wife Cath (Jessica Hynes) and son Martin (Joseph Hamilton). Tired of Richard's all-consuming obsession with his Iron-Age alter ego, Cath kicks him out of their home and into the real world. His honour is put in further peril when Cath begins seeing Martin's PE teacher Gary (played by Eastenders' Paul Nicholls). Realising he must finally face up to the challenges of the present day and fatherly responsibility, Richard enlists the help of best friend and 'Trekkie', Julian (Ewen Bremner). Together with Julian and a merry band of assorted geeks known as the 'Bloody Broadswords', Richard must summon all of his Norse courage to discover the real warrior within and prepare for his greatest ever battle.

Vito Rocco who was selected by the MySpace community, will be making his feature debut as director. Executive Producers are Peter Carlton, Lee Thomas, Rob Morgan, Nick Love, and Travis Katz. Producers are Allan Niblo, James Richardson, Rupert Preston, James Fabricant, Arvind Ethan David, Judy Counihan, and Rachel Connors. Director of photography is David Katznelson DFF, costume designer is Andrew Cox, music supervisor is Lol Hammond, and the music is composed and conducted by Mike Batt. Singer Kate Melua also recorded a song on the soundtrack. The screenplay is by David Lemon and Vito Rocco. MyMovieMashup is an original concept by Wahida Begum and James Fabricant.

FAINTHEART was filmed on location in Ludlow in Shropshire with Ludlow Castle chosen as the key filming location.